Military chic is irresistible even to pacifists. However "ironic" they claim their stereotypical uniforms to be, the various elements were born of function over form and that means soldierwear: the preferred khaki-coloured jackets with little German flags on the shoulders, the heavy boots, the combat trousers - all practical for surviving a protest that could last months.

Functionality, too, defines the military wristwatch, a product designed solely to perform a task in circumstances that are truly a matter of life or death. Navies have always required superior timekeepers, the battles between nations and global piracy creating a need for both military and commercial interests to encourage the discovery of longitude. John Harrison's successful chronometers - the story has been told in bestselling books and even TV programmes - benefited all who sailed the seas, from the 18th century onward. No ship dared leave port without an accurate timekeeper if it had any hope of reaching its destination and returning home. But these were far from portable devices.

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It was natural that the military, as well as early motorists and aviators, would embrace and define the wristwatch, because the dominant watches prior to the 20th century were pocket watches that required inconvenient removal for viewing, compared to a twist of the wrist. The pocket watch proved to be increasingly impractical as the speed of warfare accelerated, from the manually loaded cannon and rifle to automatic weapons to the advent of flight.

While the history of timekeeping is peppered with examples of early wristwatches, including one made by Breguet for a noblewoman 200 years ago, many would point to a specific military request for a watch worn on the wrist as the granddaddy of the form. In 1880, at the behest of the German navy, Girard-Perregaux produced what is widely regarded as the original watch - its layout is still in use today, however much it has been refined. It is recognisable as a wristwatch - a small timepiece on a strap - but was made strictly for deck officers rather than for civilian use.

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Like all early wristwatches, it was based on a small pocket watch, adapted with wire loops or lugs fitted to the case for attaching the straps or bracelets. Because it would be worn at sea, and corrosion from water and salty air was an issue, the case was made of 14ct gold. Another early form of protection, necessary in the days before plastics or sapphire glass, was a metal covering for the crystal and dial. With that in place, it's almost indistinguishable from examples from one of the earliest mass uses of wristwatches, more than 30 years later, during WWI.

Functionality defines the military wristwatch, a product designed to perform a task in circumstances that are a matter of life or death

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Although wristwatches had appeared sporadically during the 19th century, and pioneering aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont had asked his friend Louis Cartier to fashion one for him as early as 1904, WWI proved the concept was viable enough to allow it to supplant pocket watches during the decade that followed it. The transition was not easy, because small pocket watches were still too large for the wrist, and smaller movements and cases had to become a norm, rather than a jewellery item for ladies. It has also been cited that wristwatches were considered, during their early years, to be a bit feminine, despite the macho origins.

Peacetime allowed the watch industry to flourish and to refine the wristwatch, paving the way for some of the 20th century's most admirable and desirable watches: those of WWII, and military watches of the Fifties. Between the wars, developments in watchmaking included the perfection of an automatic winding system in the Twenties by Englishman John Harwood, new approaches to anti-magnetism, waterproofing of cases by Rolex and Omega in the Twenties and Thirties, shock resistance and the world timer of Louis Cottier in the Thirties, and Functionality defines the military wristwatch, a product designed to perform a task in circumstances that are a matter of life or deathothers that would prove useful for both military and civilian uses.

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A number of milestone military timepieces - now highly collectible - introduced or established the innovations and design features we still enjoy today. A standout is the 1948 IWC Mk 11, issued to RAF pilots and throughout the British Empire, as well as to NATO fliers. Although it followed WWII - its sire is the Mk X, with small seconds dial - the Mk 11 with sweep seconds hand is the defining timepiece for time-only military watches thanks to its near-perfect legibility.

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As was typical of many military watches, the Mk 11 had a triangle at the 12 o'clock position, far more comprehensible than a numeral and guaranteed to let the wearer know it was the "right way up". Powered by IWC's Cal 89, believed by some experts to be the finest manual-wind movement ever, it remained in active service until the Eighties. Tissot produced the first anti-magnetic wristwatch in 1929, but the Mk 11 is renowned for similar protection via its internal soft-metal Faraday cage; its timekeeping was unaffected by magnetic fields produced by electronic or electrical equipment, even something as simple as a loudspeaker in an air-raid siren.

What the Mk 11 did for the look of a time-only military watch, the Breguet Type XX did for chronographs. Admittedly, similarly styled pieces had appeared before, but the Breguet added a flyback hand, a rotating bezel for marking increments of elapsed time or second time-zone readings and superb legibility.

First issued in the early Fifties for the French naval air arm, the Type XX expanded on the layout of the classic WWII Luftwaffe chronographs from the likes of Hanhart. Powered by the superb Valjoux Cal 22 movement, with anti-magnetic shielding, it was issued with either two or three subsidiary dials. Like the IWC Mk 11, the numbers identify a military model with clearly defined specifications that could be built under licence by any suitable bidder. Thus, a number of variants exist, including those built to the same specification by Dodane, Auricoste and others. But it's Breguet's version that drives enthusiasts crazy at auctions.

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Probably the most influential military watch of recent times is not the original, but the reissue, and yet its inspiration was the most obscure of diving watches. Many thousands of military watches were built, yet Panerais from 1936 until the revival, with a civilian edition in the Nineties, number in the mere hundreds.

The Panerai Luminor Marina, Marina Militare and Radiomir diving watches were known almost exclusively to those who used them for their sole purpose: the crack divers for the Italian, German and Egyptian navies.

After Panerai reissued a limited number for civilian collectors, primarily in its native Italy, it developed into the fastest-growing cult watch ever. It is almost singularly responsible for raising the median size of wristwatches from 36-38mm to 40-44mm, and the company now makes more in a week than it did in its first 60 years.

Not all military watches were as exotic or highly spec'd as those by Breguet, IWC or Panerai. American troops would have been issued more prosaic timepieces in WWII, such as the US Army A-11 made by Bulova, Elgin or Waltham, or a number of similar models from Hamilton for the Navy.

A desirable feature was a hacking movement, where the second hand stops when the crown is pulled out, to set the time to the second. Not as imposing as the watches of the other Allies, the A11s still had highly legible dials and robust, compact cases. Many of them had a second ring of numerals, from 13 to 24, within the outer ring of 1-12, because the military always operates by a 24-hour clock. These watches survived almost unchanged through the Korean and Vietnam wars, and are highly collectible, yet surprisingly common.

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Prior to the Gulf War 20 years ago, military watches had little or no value beyond hard-core collectors

More desirable among enthusiasts, though, are their British equivalents, known for their distinctive "broad arrow" identification mark on the dial or caseback to indicate military issue. They looked similar to A11s, but usually had better movements. Also identified by the letters "WWW" ("Watch Wrist Waterproof") or "ATP" ("Army Trade Pattern") on the casebacks, they were made by a number of licensed manufacturers including Timor, Vertex, Record, Eterna and Smiths, but the most coveted came from Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Longines. The latter issued a fabulous replica of the WWW in 2009, which added date and automatic movement, but with its retro-cred intact.

Another influential military watch from the post-war years was 1953's Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, designed for the French navy. An early automatic, the Fifty Fathoms was released around the same time as Rolex's Submariner, so the two watches must compete for the title of "first truly waterproof post-war diving watch". The arguably superior Submariner, however, was, and is, primarily a civilian timepiece (although special models were made to order for the British navy), so the Fifty Fathoms can claim more definitive military status. Its layout, like the Submariner's, represents the ideal form for a legible diver's watch: black dial, white markings and a rotating bezel to show elapsed time. Blancpain relaunched a perfect replica for its 50th anniversary, mainly as a collector's item, but it's now one of its most successful ranges.

For 2012, Zenith has released a retro pilot's watch - it's the only brand that's allowed to use the term "pilot" on its dial - with manual winding, huge "onion" crown and production limited to 250 pieces. Despite massive dimensions of 57mm, the model has sold out. If you were too late for that gem of a watch, the company's "unlimited" pilot watch, reminiscent of a Sixties classic manufactured for A Cairelli to supply the Italian air force, is just as handsome... and probably more practical.

But what was it about these revived military watches, especially the Fifty Fathoms and the Panerais, that made them so desirable to civilians? Prior to the Gulf War, military watches had little or no value beyond hard-core collector circles. But since the mid-Nineties, watches that can lay claim to having once served the military have featured in nearly every catalogue; in addition to those mentioned, the list also includes Heuer, Seiko, Glycine, Gallet, Zodiac, Breitling, Doxa, Enicar, Ebel and many others who can claim with authority to have supplied the world's armed forces.

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Genuine military watches and civilian facsimiles are popular for a number of qualities, including practicality, legibility, ruggedness, accuracy, imperviousness to the elements and the use, almost exclusively, of stainless steel (still the most practical case material) and the choice of strap. Most real military watches are fitted with plain leather, cloth or nylon straps.

Bracelets can break and add weight. Straps, too, can snap, but most genuine military watches have fixed bars between the lugs, to accept over-under nylon straps. Purists prefer the grey, tan, khaki or striped nylon NATO, Royal Navy or RAF straps where suitable, and companies such as Seiko and Hamilton offer replacement straps that also look great on vintage military watches.

There are cultural aspects of military watches that cannot be ignored and they are the inherent implication of politics and purpose. Then there is the matter of which army, navy or air force wore which watches, and one would, for example, have to be an idiot to sell a vintage Israeli Navy Zodiac in Iran, a Russian Poljot watch in Afghanistan or a WWII Seiko in Korea. But then sensitivity has never been important to the watch industry. It is interesting to note, however, that - of the major German watch houses active during WWII - only A Lange & Söhne has exercised the good taste and understanding not to reissue pieces worn exclusively by the Nazis.

So strong is the appeal of the military watch that new companies have emerged producing watches with military bearing. What's interesting is they have also, retroactively, attracted genuine military clients, a case of life imitating art. Among them are Anonimo, Luminox, Sinn and Bremont, the latter with its aviator founders who manufacture genuine pilot's watches that are now worn by a number of American squadrons. One of the most successful new brands, Bell & Ross, has established itself as a must-have make for cool looks alone, especially with the distinctive, square-cased BR01 Instrument series - watches that look as if they were plucked from the control panel of a plane. It, too, has genuine military clients.

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There are cultural aspects of military watches that can't be ignored, the inherent implication of politics and purpose

If you crave the military look, Hamilton offers almost absurdly affordable models with the military in their DNA. Having supplied watches to British and American forces during WWII, the company has always produced classic military-style watches at sane prices, most notably the Khaki range. Recently, it added a modern version of the Frogman, inspired by the diving watches made for the US Navy in the Forties and with water resistance to 200m, as well as a high-legibility model derived from pilots watches, called the Aviation One. For 2012, the company added a mouthwatering limited edition, the Khaki Navy Pioneer, a time-only watch with a 46.5mm case that can be worn as a wristwatch or mounted in

a gyroscopic frame as a maritime deck chronometer.

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Amusingly, the most blatant of all civilian-targeted military watches wears its colours on its dial. And the military connection is real, not merely stylistic. The Victorinox catalogue consists of wholly functional, cost-effective models with a pedigree that few others can match; Victorinox supplies the Swiss army and has used those two words on its dials.

But whether the watch you fancy has genuine military credentials or merely comes fitted with an olive-drab strap and packaging that looks like a footlocker, the bottom line for all military watches remains the same: fitness for purpose, with an absence of flash. Which makes that minute-repeater-triple-calendar-tourbillon with ruby bezel seem all the more ludicrous, no?